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Europe facing ‘last chance’ to respond to migrant crisis
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WHILE migrants scuffled with police at a transit camp in Croatia, nations in southeast Europe scolded and threatened each other yesterday as the unrelenting flow of asylum-seekers raised diplomatic tensions to a boiling point.
As European Union ministers met in Brussels on the migrant crisis, the United Nations’ refugee agency said the next few days might be the last chance for a coherent response as hundreds of thousands flow to Europe from war-torn areas in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
In Brussels, EU interior ministers were yesterday trying to forge consensus on a plan to distribute 120,000 refugees across the 28-nation bloc according to mandatory quotas. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia are vehemently opposed to the quota plan, while Latvia and Poland are also skeptical. EU leaders will today hold an emergency summit on the crisis.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the proposal on the table isn’t enough to stabilize the situation, as 477,906 people have already entered Europe by sea this year. It urged the EU to quickly set up facilities in Greece, where tens of thousands have arrived after making the hazardous sea crossing from Turkey.
This might be “the last opportunity for a coherent European response,” said Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for UNHCR.
The clashes in Croatia yesterday began when hundreds of people surged toward the gates of a transit camp providing temporary sanctuary for asylum-seekers who have flooded in since Hungary shut its border last week with neighboring Serbia.
Adding to the chaos, those already inside the camp in the eastern village of Opatovac mobbed the gates and demanded to leave, saying they had been assured they would stay only 24 hours before being allowed to continue efforts to seek sanctuary in Europe.
Riot police got the migrants to halt the pushing and shoving. Lines formed for those wanting to enter the camp, while those wanting to leave were waiting for buses to take them to Hungary.
On the diplomatic front, tensions between Serbia and Croatia took a sharp turn for the worse, with Serbia giving Croatia an ultimatum to reopen its border or risk unspecified countermeasures.
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic called an emergency session of all security services to discuss the crisis.
“This is a scandal of international proportions. Croatia has breached all European agreements and directives,” he said.
Croatia, angry that Serbia is busing migrants to its borders, seemed unlikely to honor any demands.
“Mix it up a little. Send them a bit to Hungary and Romania,” said Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic.
Hungary’s foreign minister got into the verbal melee, saying political relations with fellow neighbor Croatia were at a “freezing point.”
In Greece, bad weather created more misery as storms drenched hundreds who had been camping out in a square in Athens.
“We have nothing. No water, no food, no shelter. We are living in tents, we need help,” said Mohamed Saber Nazari, a 20-year-old Afghan camping in Victoria Square.
A local taxi driver sympathized with the migrant’s plight. Adrian Mustafa, 45, walked to Greece from Albania more than 20 years ago and has been living in the country since then.
“If you go through what these people are going through, only then will you understand,” he said.
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